The main goal of the Report is to sensitize
politicians and civil society to the specific set of sources of
corruption in the region.

The first part analyzes the origins of cross border
corruption in the region which is seen as a result of the rise of
transnational crime caused by the violent break-up of former
Yugoslavia. It intends to show that regional factors significantly
contribute to national-level corruption and could undermine
national anti-corruption efforts.

In the second part, the report evaluates the
national circumstances in which the regional factors develop. It
compares the national legislation and institutional practice in a
number of areas critical to anti-corruption efforts: regulatory and
legal framework, institutional prerequisites, corruption in the
economy, the role of civil society and media and international
cooperation. The second part is ultimately a collection of
contributions from watchdog organizations in the countries in
Southeast Europe. In fact, the nature of regional concerns about
corruption is evident in the limitations of this report – namely
that the level of institutional development, policy implementation
practice and international affiliations of the countries in SEE are
varying to such a degree that only a “bird’s eye view” could reveal
the source of common problem. This was very much in line with the
USAID approach that there is a strong conceptual distinction
between law enforcement approaches to corruption, which try to
strengthen crime-fighting efforts, and a more holistic approach
that addresses poor governance systems more broadly.

The countries covered by the RCAR included Albania,
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania
and Serbia.